Pink Autumn Leaves

I created this piece during the weekend at my BF’s place but realized on my way home I had forgotten to take a photo of it! So could not blog about it. Not to worry, it wasn’t going anywhere so here it is! Decided to give my paintbrushes a rest and go about a no-paint piece. And what a cute piece it is!

It was an opportunity to practice again the Gelli printing and to finally to try out my new Pan Pastels! I found some primer called Pastel Ground by Golden and thought it would be an idea to add a thin layer of it before starting. Gives a rough surface to provide some “teeth” for the pastel to adhere. As you can see here, though, I discovered it was a bad idea as I was sponging the Pan Pastel across the paper. Instead of a smooth and even finish, it turned out all choppy and uneven. Such is better suited when drawing with pastels instead. Not to worry, I was going to cover it all up anyway later!

Actually the primer helped in other ways by enhancing the inks. Here I used some Gelli plate in small circle shapes. Spread some blue Distress Oxide with a small brayer on the plate and then pressed some rubber stamps on it before making the imprint. I cleaned the brayer by rolling out the remaining ink on the paper.

Then I spread some pink Distressed Oxide on some stencils. Decided to make them pink just for fun and cuteness. And why not? Although I wanted to create an autumn theme, I preferred to stick to the analogous colour scheme. Orange or yellow, or even red, would not be a good idea I figured.

To be honest I was at this stage struggling over the next step. What to paint on top? I initially thought of another Little One painting but I wanted to enhance the pink autumn leaves and hence go for a subject in neutral colours like brown or grey. Brown would be a good choice to warm up the cool-coloured background. And so I thought of drawing animals again instead. And so kitties and bunny and bear it was!

It is not very often that I use coloured pencils so thought it was an idea to fill the subjects in with them. Here, I used Staedler Ergosoft Colored Pencil since I like the way the shades smoothly and evenly spreads. The little kittens were filled in with brown felt markers (Faber Castell’s Pitt Artists Pen). On the corners of the paper I added some collage from torn wrapping paper. The eyes of the bunny and bear were done using Uni Posca pens, but none for the kitties because the whole picture would become too busy. And again I introduced Nuvo Drops for the string of pearls to add some kawaii elegance. And so…

Using coloured pencils instead of paint also provides a stunning effect especially when combined with something light like pastel and Distressed Oxide. I should do something like this more often. In addition, I’m also pleased to see how the Gelli printing turned out with the smaller plates. I need more practice with them though. As with the Pan Pastels, they do work well for backgrounds but without the Pastel Ground so I’ll try the next time without. Am nevertheless happy with the piece. The light touch and pastel shades make it so kawaii!